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Lowell man arrested in Chelmsford market robbery

By Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.com and Amelia Pak-Harvey apak-harvey@lowellsun.com

Updated:
07/13/2016 08:57:56 AM EDT

CHELMSFORD -- A 50-year-old Lowell man with a lengthy criminal history was arrested Tuesday night and charged with unarmed robbery for allegedly holding up the Hannaford supermarket in Drum Hill earlier in the day.

Chelmsford police received a call Tuesday about 12:30 p.m. reporting a robbery at Hannaford's customer service desk, according to Lt. Edward Quinn.

The suspect told an employee that he was robbing the store and passed a note requesting money, Quinn said. No weapon was shown. Quinn said the suspect took an unknown amount of cash and fled toward Lowell in a black or dark blue Nissan SUV. There were no reported injuries.

Police released a surveillance photo of the suspect on Tuesday afternoon. Ahern said officers from Lowell police recognized the man in the surveillance photo due to their past dealings with him.

Melendez was arrested in Lowell a little after 8 p.m., according to Lowell police arrest records.

Melendez has a lengthy history of facing robbery charges.

In 2005, Melendez was charged with robbing banks in Dracut, Lawrence, and Salem, N.H.

In 2006, he was charged with robbing a Lowell convenience store while armed with a knife, and was later sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the House of Correction in connection with that case.

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In January of 2010, he was again charged with unarmed robbery, and a year later he plead guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison, though he was credited with 521 days served.

In December 2012, he was charged with unarmed robbery after police accused him of robbing the Lowell Five on Wood Street.

During a court appearance in that case, Melendez told a court clinician that he has struggled with heroin addiction on and off for decades. Melendez is a former U.S. Army master sergeant who served in Operation Desert Storm, according to a story in The Sun regarding his 2012 arrest.

In April of 2013, Melendez was arrested by state police following a roughly 6-mile vehicle pursuit on Interstate 495. State police said at that time that Melendez was a suspect in a bank robbery in Lawrence.

A lawsuit filed by Melendez made it to the Supreme Judicial Court in 2007. Melendez appealed the Lowell Housing Authority's decision to evict him from public housing in Lowell due to history of violent crime. The SJC ruled in favor of the LHA.

It appears Melendez's most recent arrest in Lowell was in July 2015, when he was arrested on a warrant for an alleged probation violation.

Melendez will be arraigned on the latest charges Wednesday in Lowell District Court.

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